choice overload Archives – Decision Fish: Decide For Yourself

Time To Choose Your Health Insurance: Don’t Make A $9,000 Mistake

Brett F. Whysel — Tue, 18 Dec 2018 20:23:42 +0000

Is there any financial decision that we dread more than the annual chore of choosing a health insurance plan? It’s got everything we hate: choice and information overload, time pressure, ambiguity and confusion, consequences worth thousands, uncomfortable scenarios involving disease and injury, inscrutable jargon coming at a time of the year full of other business, ... Read more

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How to Decide…How to Help People Decide

Brett F. Whysel — Wed, 04 Jan 2017 14:08:50 +0000

Think back to the last time you had to make a hard, important decision. Were you picking an asset allocation for your 401k, selecting a health insurance plan or deciding whether it was time to refinance your mortgage? What kind of help did you seek and what kind of help was available? Were you confident ... Read more

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Health Insurance Enrollment: A Superhuman Decision

Brett F. Whysel — Tue, 06 Dec 2016 00:58:58 +0000

Open enrollment for health insurance began November 16 and the decision isn’t any easier than last year. On the contrary, not only are premiums higher and benefits lower, there’s greater uncertainty about the future of the Obama health care act. On a cold, cloudy Sunday afternoon, I analyzed my health insurance choices. Our choices and ... Read more

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Good Behavior? What I Learned at the Behavioral Summit (and How it Freaked Me Out a Little)

Brett F. Whysel — Tue, 18 Oct 2016 16:54:56 +0000

I just attended the best conference ever. And I’ve been to a lot of them. The ideas42 Behavioral Summit 2016 was billed as offering “…an inside look at the latest developments from the field of behavioral science and how these insights drive innovation in the private sector.” Indeed it went beyond that, touching on politics, ... Read more

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My Most Embarrassing Financial Failures

Brett F. Whysel — Tue, 03 May 2016 16:40:22 +0000

So this is embarrassing: I’ve been advising institutions and individuals about financial decisions for nearly three decades and yet I’ve failed many times to make good choices myself. I want to share a list of my failures with you both so you can avoid them and as a commitment device, so I don’t keep failing ... Read more

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Decisions into Old Age: The Forecast is Partly Cloudy

Brett F. Whysel — Tue, 12 Jan 2016 01:22:48 +0000

Here’s a question that just about everyone approaching (and passing) middle age will feel ambivalent about: how does getting older affect our ability to make rational decisions? On the one hand, it’s common knowledge that our cognitive abilities begin to decline in our fifties. On the other, as I’ve written before, the accumulation of experience ... Read more

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How to ‘Architect’ Your Investment Behavior

Brett F. Whysel — Tue, 22 Dec 2015 21:08:13 +0000

I took my annual look at my investments this week, and boy did I get it wrong. A few years ago, I determined I should have about 70% of my investments in equities. Instead, as of yesterday, I had less than 60%. Most of the excess was in cash, earning essentially nothing and missing out on ... Read more

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Push the Limits on Rational Decision-Making

Brett F. Whysel — Tue, 13 Oct 2015 07:00:00 +0000

There are three things we need to make wise and rational decisions with confidence: time, information and smarts. Unfortunately, as mere humans, we know that these resources are in short supply. Indeed, the vast range of choices we have to make daily and the overwhelming influx of information and stimuli can limit or confuse all ... Read more

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Your Decision-Making Personality: Myers-Briggs & TAIS

Brett F. Whysel — Sun, 20 Sep 2015 10:49:38 +0000

My college-era friends enjoy reminding me of the time decades ago when I sent the waiter at a fancy restaurant away several times as I struggled to select an entrée from the menu. It was an important decision for me: the dinner out was a rare splurge to celebrate graduation with close friends who were about ... Read more

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